Malala on the Nobel Peace Prize

Malala describes her shooting

Malala on being Pakistani prime minister

Malala on if she wins Nobel

Christiane Amanpour's interview with Malala Yousafzai, The Bravest Girl in the World, will air Sunday, October 13 at 7pm ET, and reair during Amanpour's normal Monday timeslot.

By Mick Krever, CNN

When Malala Yousafzai woke from the coma the Taliban put her in, she was aware of only a few things.

“Yes, Malala, you were shot,” she told herself.

She thought back to her dreams – of lying on a stretcher, being in some distant place far from home and school – and realized that they weren’t dreams, but recollections.

“The nurses and doctors, everyone was speaking in English,” she recalls. “I realized that now I am not in Pakistan.”

All Malala Yousafzai wanted was to go to school.

But she lived in an area of Pakistan, the Swat Valley, where the Taliban had effectively taken over governance, and imposed its harsh ideology – of no music, no visible women, and certainly no girls in school.

For defying their will, and refusing to stay silent, the Taliban tried to murder Malala, then a 15-year-old girl.

Miraculously, she survived, and has continued speaking truth to power about education, extremism, and equality.

Almost a year to the day after the attempt on her life, Malala, and her father Ziauddin, spoke with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour in front of a live town hall audience at the 92nd Street Y in New York.

The Taliban, she told Amanpour, “say that we are going to fight for Islam. … So I think we also must think about them.”

“And that's why I want to tell Taliban [to] be peaceful,” she said, “and the real jihad is to fight through pens and to fight through your words. Do that jihad. And that's the jihad that I am doing. I am fighting for my rights, for the rights of every girl.”

When she woke up from her week-long coma she asked for her mother and father by writing on a piece of paper; she had a breathing tube in her throat that prevented her from speaking.

“The first thing I did was that I thanked Allah – I thanked God, because I was surviving, I was living,” she told Amanpour.

“They told me that your father is safe and he will come soon, as soon as possible,” she recounted.

“And the second question that was really important for me and about which I was thinking - who will pay for me? Because I don't have money and I also knew that my father is running a school, but the buildings of the schools are on rent, the home is on rent … then I was thinking he might be asking people for loans.”

A 15-year-old girl, a week after being shot in the head by the Taliban, was worried about how her medical bills would be paid.

Extraordinary circumstances

Malala was ten when the Taliban came to the Swat Valley, she writes in her memoir out this week, “I Am Malala.”

“Moniba and I had been reading the Twilight books and longed to be vampires,” she wrote. “It seemed to us that the Taliban arrived in the night just like vampires.”

The Taliban started broadcasting nightly sermons on FM Radio. Everyone started calling it “Mullah FM.”

In the beginning, their messages were guidance on living that appealed to a devout audience, including Malala’s mother.

Slowly, they became more radical, urging people to give up their TVs and music.

Then, Malala told Amanpour, the Radio Mullah – as they called him – made an announcement that the young schoolgirl could not possibly abide.

“‘No girl is allowed to go to school,’” she recalls him saying. “‘And if she goes, then, you know what we can do.’”

They congratulated the girls that heeded the call.

“‘Miss So-and-so has stopped going to school and will go to heaven,’ he’d say,” she wrote.

And you had only to walk around her hometown of Mingora, in the Swat Valley, to see what would happen if you crossed them – women flogged in the street, decapitated men lying in the gutter.

But Malala defied the call. She went to school as normal, and listened to the Western music – Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez – of which she was fond.

She replaced her school uniform with plain clothes, to avoid attention; she wore a Harry Potter backpack, as shown in a documentary by Adam Ellick of the New York Times.

At one point, a Pashto television station interviewed some school children, including Malala, about life in Swat. Soon thereafter, she spoke to a national broadcaster, Geo TV.

“I did not want to be silent, because I had to live in that situation forever,” she said, nearly screaming the final word. “And it was a better idea, because otherwise they were going to kill us – so it was a better idea to speak and then be killed.”

A producer from the BBC approached her father about having one of his teachers blog about the experience of living under Taliban rule; instead, Malala volunteered herself.

“On my way from school to home I heard a man saying 'I will kill you,’” she wrote on January 3, 2009. “I hastened my pace and after a while I looked back if the man was still coming behind me. But to my utter relief he was talking on his mobile and must have been threatening someone else over the phone.”

Daddy’s girl

You cannot really tell the story of Malala Yousafzai without talking about her father, Ziauddin.

In most Pakistani families, Ziauddin told Amanpour, when a girl is born, “a kind of sympathy is expressed with [the] mother,” an acknowledgement of the fact that boys are vastly more valued than are girls.

Not so for Ziauddin.

“I usually tell people, don’t ask me what I have done,” he said. “Just ask me what I did not do. That is important. The only thing which I did not do, and I went against the taboos, and I went against the tradition – that I did not clip the wings of my daughter to fly.”

It is impossible to stand with Ziauddin and his daughter and not feel, as if by osmosis, the soul-wrenching love he feels for his daughter.

“She's the most precious person for me in my life,” he told Amanpour. “And we are not only father and daughter, we are friends.”

But to ask Malala, it is Ziauddin’s personal courage, not his devotion to her, that has fueled her determination most.

“I also remember the time of terrorism, when no one was speaking, and my father dared to speak, and he raised up his voice,” she said. “He was not afraid of death at that time. And he still not is.”

“You blast my school and you will say, ‘Don't condemn it.’ It's very difficult,” Ziauddin said of the Taliban. “You kill my people and say don't say anything.”

“I think better to die than to live in such a situation,” he told Amanpour. “I think that it's better to live for one day to speak for your right than to live for a hundred years in such a slavery.”

Even when she had an international media profile, Malala worried that the Taliban would come for her father, not her.

“I was worried about my father, because I was not expecting Taliban to come for me,” she said. “I thought that they might have a little bit manners, and their behavior would be – somehow they would be like humans.”

It was Ziauddin who encouraged Malala to speak up, and allowed her to give TV interviews, blog for the BBC, and raise her international profile.

Did he, Amanpour asked, feel at all responsible for the violent attack that almost ended his daughter’s life?

“No,” he said emphatically. “Never.”

Pakistan’s government, he said, “could not protect four hundred schools in Swat. They should be repenting that they could not protect the girls to be flogged. They could not protect the infrastructure of Swat to be sold and they could not protect the men to be slaughtered in the square. Why should I repent?”

The politician

When Malala was young, she wanted to be a doctor. She got good grades, she told Amanpour – and not just because her father was the school principal, she chuckled – and in her community the studious girls could become one of two things: a doctor or a teacher.

Ziauddin, no doubt with some mix of affection and recognition that she was a prodigy, encouraged her to speak up and think about going into politics.

Soon, she started to like the idea.

“I realized that becoming a doctor, I can only help a small community,” she said. “But by becoming a politician, I can help my whole country.”

And, with a wry sense of humor that surprised and delighted the town hall audience, she added that many doctors in Pakistan “have to treat patients who are being injured, who are being killed. So I want to go and stop those people who are doing killings. So it’s also like helping doctors.”

And yes, she added, “I want to become a prime minister of Pakistan.”

The nuclear family

So much attention has been focused on Malala and her father – so progressive in their cause – that it is easy to forget the mother and two brothers who have stayed almost invisible to the public eye.

“The first and the important thing in my life is that I raise my voice – against my brothers,” she joked. “I am, like, the only daughter. So it's very necessary to fight against them and to raise our voice against them.”

Her mother, who is devoutly religious, has been supportive of her cause, Malala said, but just has maintained a modest profile.

She grew up illiterate in Urdu, the national language of Pakistan, and English, literate only in her local mother tongue.

“I used to write poems to her,” Ziauddin admitted, blushing.

Malala rescued her father from further embarrassment.

“A father must not share it in front of his daughter,” she said through a broad grin, “because the daughters learn from parents.”

Malala said her mother used to take her to the market and scold her for not properly covering her head.

“We love our culture,” Ziauddin said. His wife, he said, has “always [had] her scarf. And this is not something imposed. This is cultural.”

“For me, all cultural and traditional things, they are very lovely when they don't go against human rights. So that is simple.”

The fateful day

On October 9, 2012, Malala was on the white bench of her Toyota TownAce school van on her way home from school. She had just taken an exam, and was happy to be chatting with her friends.

Two men stood in the middle of the road, blocking the van’s path. One started speaking to the driver.

“Another boy, he came at the back,” Malala told Amanpour. “He asked, ‘Who is Malala?’ All the girls, they got furious. No one could understand what he is saying, because we were thinking about our next day exam paper. And on that day we were having a gossip, who would get the higher marks, who would get the lower marks.”

“He asked ‘Who is Malala?’ He did not give me time to answer [the] question. … And then in the next few seconds he fired three bullets. One bullet hit me in the left side of my forehead, just above here,” she said, gesturing to the left side of her forehead.

“My two other friends,” she said, “they were also shot in their shoulders. … That was a really sad news for me, because if I was shot, that was fine for me. But I was then feeling guilty that why they have been the target. So it was really sad for me to hear.”

The next time she saw the light of day, she would be lying thousands of miles away, in a British hospital.

The world knows ‘Malala’

“I didn't know that - that the whole world was praying for me, and are still praying for me,” Malala told Amanpour. “Not only the people of Pakistan, not only Muslims, not only Pashtuns, but everyone prayed for me.”

Not only are there prayers, but celebrities from Madonna to Angelina Jolie, leaders from Gordon Brown to Queen Elizabeth II have offered public and emphatic support.

The Queen, in fact, has extended an invitation to Malala and her father for a royal visit.

Of course she will go, Malala joked, “because it's the order of the queen – it’s the command.”

“When people write on Twitter, we support Malala, it does not only mean” they are just supporting Malala, the person, she said. “They're also supporting my cause. It means that the whole world is taking an action for girls' education, for the education of every child.”

The cause

“In Swat, before the terrorism, we were going to school,” Malala told Amanpour. “It was just a normal life and carrying a heavy bag and doing homework daily and being good and getting high marks.”

Why are we going to school, she and her friends asked themselves.

“When the terrorists came, when they stopped us from going to school, I got the evidence,” she said. “And they showed me a proof that, yes, the terrorists are afraid of education. They are afraid of the power of education.”

That power has sustained her through life under unimaginably harsh conditions, through an assassination attempt, through the alien world of book junkets and shouting reporters and flashing cameras.

“They did a mistake, the biggest mistake. They ensured me, and they told me, through their attack, that even death is supporting me, that even death does not want to kill me.”

“The thing is, they can kill me. They can only kill Malala. But it does not mean that they can kill my cause, as well; my cause of education, my cause of peace, and my cause of human rights. My cause of equality will still be surviving. They cannot kill my cause.”

“They only can shoot a body,” she said, “but they cannot shoot my dreams.”

soundoff(335 Responses)

Sato Fernando

Her message is`to win terrorism,fear,educating people is important'.When people get eduction,one can see,judge between things.She can see this reality.She knows that bombs,violence,war can not solve problems of terrorism.The methods to solve international terrorism is showned by this girl.If human being,US etc. are going to understand this simple fact and solution to terrorism problem

We need to have in the world "TV REALITY SHOWS FOR HEROES LIKE MALALA" AND HAVE THE FUTUER GENERATION MAKE MORE STRONG NATION WORLD WIDE LIKE HER AND PEASEFUL WORLD ROUND US !! Not LIKE the stupid" KIM KARDASHIYAN" STUPID REALITY SHOWS ONLY MAKE MORE DUMBS TO THE NATION!! ALL THE BEST TO YOU MALALA!

Believing in Muhammad and his Arabian cult of supremacy is extreme dumb.

October 12, 2013 at 2:59 pm |

carlos al mattos ( brasil )

concordp plenamente com tudo que voce falou

October 12, 2013 at 8:21 pm |

Khan

Could'nt have said it better myself!

October 13, 2013 at 8:06 am |

Mr Janan

READ THIS ITS THE TRUTH, I know the Truth about malala and her fake character and her fake book.. so please don't give the world another fake hero... I know there family, so thanks for lies she is telling the world....

October 13, 2013 at 8:20 am |

Get Over It

MR JANAN, I'm afraid her getting shot in the face by Taliban and subsequent death threats invalidate your opinion. TROLL.

October 13, 2013 at 3:47 pm |

Sati

Malala is truly a great person. She is one in a million! Can you see her standing next to Miley? OMG.... She will shine like a star.

October 13, 2013 at 8:57 pm |

Mr Janan

get over, so many people getting threats and getting killed in this mass mess!!! why u just concerned about one person so much! I think they pay u good money to write these things, on this site,,,

Yes, it's true that what happened to this girl is not right; however, Islam is not what these people were obeying when they did this to this girl. Islam teaches equality and peace. As a matter of fact, it is known as one of the most peaceful religions in the world. Just because a handful of Muslims lose their minds and do crazy things like this or the 9/11 attacks, doesn't mean that all Muslims are evil. The teachings of the Qur'an say nothing about killing Christians or any other people with a different religion. I am a 10 year old girl living in South Carolina and whenever someone says something about Islam like this, I simply explain this to them. We are extremely peaceful people. I understand that Christianity is very peaceful as well, for I have read the Bible and understand what it says. Have you ever read the Qur'an? Try it, you might like what you see.

October 12, 2013 at 9:10 pm |

Shahbano

* Were not obeying *

October 12, 2013 at 9:13 pm |

Khan

You better leave the evil practice of trolling and contribute towards Peace in this world!

October 13, 2013 at 8:07 am |

Jahannam

Fighting against hate IS bringing peace to this world. Islam is a doctrine of hate, just as Nazism was a doctrine of hate.

The former uses terrorism, death and destruction to advance the cause of a superior religion. The latter used terrorism, death and destruction to advance the cause of a superior race.

Are you also going to decry someone for criticizing Nazism?

October 13, 2013 at 5:23 pm |

jabar

Islam is NOT the problem. It is the people using it as a tool of fear that are the problem. My family is Islamic, we believe in peace. We are not violent ,we do not hate those outside our faith. My close friends are Buddhist and Christian. Only the Taliban promotes hate, but not for faith. They don't care about Allah, they only care about power. My daughter looks up to Malala, calls her a true hero. Allah hafiz, Malala.

October 13, 2013 at 6:20 pm |

Rahman Javaid Yasin

It is so funny on what you have commented on. If one is to believe your logic than because of KKK in USA, IRA in Ireland and ETA in Spain and Nazis in Germany etc., all Christians are the problem, all Jews are a problem because of their killing ways towards Palestinians, all Buddhists are a problem on how they are treating Muslims in Myanmar, ..... I can go on!

October 13, 2013 at 9:23 pm |

Treeflower

What you people are leaving out of the equation is that Malala, this shining example of a human being, is also Muslim. Her interpretation is different from the Taliban but she certainly has the right to her interpretation as much as any one else. So, you are bashing 'Islam' but only if you forget that Malala is an exquisite example of a Muslim person. That – is utter hypocrisy.

October 13, 2013 at 11:54 pm |

Adrian Maclean

Ignorance is the problem. Education is the answer and without it the cruelty and barbarism will continue by groups like the Taliban throughout the world. Malala should stay in the west and continue to spread her message. If she goes back to Pakistan the barbarians will silence her voice for freedom of Pakistani women to pursue education and ultimately gain equality in their society. May the FORCE be with her!

October 14, 2013 at 1:26 am |

Sajid Rafique

Oh really ? My grandfather used to tell me that the christians have killed 60 millions of themselves in WW2

October 15, 2013 at 12:17 am |

glennrobert

Amanpour is one of the bravest women in the world. I hope she encourages Malala not to go back to Pakistan because they will kill her! Pakistan is a failed country that has the bomb.

The offered her UK citizenship but she is a brave Muslim girl who wanted to go back to Pakistan as a role model for rest of Pakistani girls and boys. Stop trolling and start contributing towards Peace!

October 13, 2013 at 8:09 am |

Tom

Swat Valley Full of Flies. Needs pest extermination.

October 13, 2013 at 4:39 pm |

badhshabacker

glenn,
Malala is getting herself into trouble . why dont your government care about the children who died in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakstan ? why? because they dont have to . they just cared about the resources those countries had . they destroyed those countries and led the people into war against their own government . your government is the reason that they are killing themselves .
now, they've got Malala to do their job and continue destroying her country .
stay safe malala , they are gonna pay for their mistakes .

October 14, 2013 at 3:08 am |

Sunder Venkat

It is nothing but stupidity, if people consider her brave to go to Pakistan. With violent people around, you don't need to be brave, you need to be safe. Life is more precious than sacrifice for some education or peace price.

October 14, 2013 at 4:40 am |

Sajid Rafique

We have the bomb ? Really ? Good ! WE NEED IT BECAUSE YOU HAVE THEM TOO . Actually, we learned it from devils like you how to make nukes

October 15, 2013 at 12:20 am |

Farooq

Dear Glennrobert ! If it is realy so, then Pakistan need Malala the most...

October 11, 2014 at 7:35 am |

Mr Janan

I know the Truth about malala and her fake character and her fake book.. so please don't give the world another fake hero... I know there family, so thanks for lies she is telling the world....

Mr f, u shod go and learn about the world and shod know the reality! u living in a small bubble, if u come out from there, then u will see the truth... u don't have any knowledge to be here...

October 13, 2013 at 10:24 am |

rs1201

what about her is fake? if you know something about her and have proof...then you should share it with the rest of us!!!!

October 13, 2013 at 10:23 pm |

Treeflower

She is 15 or 16 years old. How much time has she had to 'be fake'? If her example is fakeness – then I will take fakeness every day of the week.

October 13, 2013 at 11:57 pm |

Max

You're right about her, she is being exploited and used by the West as a poster girl for secularism and democracy (i.e. falsehood) and as a tool to undermine the call for the Khilafah (Islamic State). Listen carefully to her speech when she's on TV, it is as written by a same spin doctor. If she's so smart and moderated muslim girl, why hasn't she removed scarf from her head, I mean she's no longer living in Pakistan, right? :)

October 14, 2013 at 12:39 am |

Bill Marvel

What kind of human beings shoot a schoolgirl in the face because she wants an education? And there were other girls shot on that bus. What kind of mad-dog barbarism is this? Do you suppose this pleases the God who created both women and men and gave them brains, Mr.Janan?

October 14, 2013 at 12:50 am |

Gary

Listen loser, the only thing fake is Muhamed. Just a false prophet. Malala is real and you are nothing compared to her.

October 14, 2013 at 3:08 am |

Mr Janan

You guys don't know nothing, just talking what you see, on media, the girls of swat are the most educated girls in the whole Pak, these things are fake, and her father is using her like a tool.... so please don't argue with me, caz I know swat and there people.... you people, are like frogs of the well.. who thinks, that knows a lot and seen the whole world, but you are in the well, so actually, you don't know nothing....

October 14, 2013 at 7:21 am |

Imperial Ahmed

She is tomorrow's Manchurian Candidate.

October 14, 2013 at 9:57 am |

Asadullah khan

IS NOT THE USE OF DRONES A KIND OF TERRORISM.DOES NOT THE COLATERAL DAMAGE VIOLATION OF INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN LAW.

Common. Bravest girl in the World?! There are millions of children suffering far, far more than she did and have to endure much more horrible things than she did. Now the difference is that's a Muslim girl. Oh and one more thing, she's lives in the UK while millions suffer in Africa, Asia or South America. No one calls them a hero but here we have a girl speaking nice about education and Americans have lost their hearths for her. I pity you Americans. THIS WORLD IS SO MUCH UNFAIR !!!!

And the cowardly dogs who shot her would happily shoot any one of those suffering girls you speak of, Marco, should any one of them choose to go to school. And I gather, Marco, that you would approve..

October 14, 2013 at 12:56 am |

Nand

CNN & Amnapour seems to be obsessed with malalla insomuch as everyday for the past 10 days or so there is 1 article everyday on her on cnn.com. No doubt Malala has done commendable work but ALSO not so much that you keep on publishing everyday ABOUT her. pLSE dont overdo & give us an overdose. If she claims to be so brave than why she does not stay back in pakistan and do her noble work.

October 14, 2013 at 2:51 am |

Gary

Millions of children that have been shot multiple times and lived to tell about it? And continue to preach the words that got her shot? Nope… There are not “millions” of those kids anywhere. She currently lives in the UK because there is a chance she will be shot again if she goes back to Pakistan. Suffering does not make a kid a hero. The fact that Malala continues to speak out against evil makes her a hero. Not to many kids in Africa, Asia or South America that have done what Malala has. THAT is the difference.

October 14, 2013 at 3:16 am |

Get Over It

DEAR KHAN: We here in the USA see Malala as brave, strong, intelligent. What do the people of Pakistan think of her, is she a hero? Will they supply security to her if she chooses to live there? Will they give her a podium and a chance to change the discrimination of women in that country? That young girl needs to stay where she will be most appreciated and have a voice. To hell with Crapistan..

in the part of Pakistan where she hails from it was a very big deal that she stood for women rights though in other parts of the country the man lady feminists are pretty common no offence but they are pretty ugly or may be after watching so many fashion shows my idea of beauty has been corrupted

October 14, 2013 at 10:50 am |

Islam is dying.

She tells Obama to stop with the drones, just like the Taliban do. So now she sympathizes with the Taliban. Out of fear?

No. She simply speaks her mind, you troll. I imagine a woman who speaks her mind a a great puzzle to you.

October 14, 2013 at 12:58 am |

saywhat

you are dead wrong.
Taliban want drone strikes to continue , it helps their cause when civilians are killed and it fuels anti-American sentiment.
Malala had the courage to confront Pr.Obama with this reality.

October 14, 2013 at 10:04 am |

saywhat

@Islam is dying
Unfortunately for you Islam is spreading, thanks to islamophobics. The more hatred they spread the more people study this religion and convert.
And as for what you say about Palestinians living happily in Israel, you must be delusional.
I work with orgs like Jewish Voice for Peace and JStreet. The oppression of these people in their own land is a black mark on humanity.

Dear Malala,
I admire your strength and wish you luck. In your inerviews you transmit a lot of good energy and your drive is contagious! However, it worries me a bit to see how a whole circle of well intended supporters of your personal and political struggle seem to be building some sort of "icon" of you ("the bravest girl in the world", and so on..). I really hope that your personal life and your political life (if you freely chose to have one) are guided by your own personal and independent views. "Press excitment" may surround you for some time, but I am confident you will be wise enough to know you are nothing more and nothing less than a young motivated girl who went through personal trauma, and should keep focused on the things YOU believe are really important, either with or without the world´s attention and either with or without others trying to "own you" in the benefit of their respective agendas. Peace and love!

You might not understand what leaders are made out of. They act differently than normal people, they give speeches to make people believe and follow their dream. You can find leaders that conquered people by swords, weapons, slavery, and leaders who warm people heart with passion, care, love ... and Malala makes people believe in non-violence struggle. Be on the right side of history.

The point is that they make a hero out of her and she isn't a hero. She's just some random Muslim girl from a random village that got shot. Keep in mind – many others got shot too! Now the difference is that she survived and other kids didn't. She lives in the UK while millions struggle in Africa, Asia or South America. The World didn't care and still doesn't care about children across the globe. This girl just looks nice in media and on banquets with politicians. She gives them a "human face". I suppose she stole the hearths of Americans because you desperately look for a beacon of hope in the Middle East and she is the closest you can get. Now make no mistake, pretty words by a 16 year old won't change anything. NOTHING at all. She will either be forgotten in a few years or she'll make a carrier with the UN as an ambassador for human rights or some other organization of that sort.

October 13, 2013 at 11:36 am |

Terry in Florida

We should introduce you to Rand Paul and his Tea Party buddies. I think you guys would get along great.

If the agenda of west to promote education among children especially girls through Malala then West is doing the great Job. Shame on people who don't have brain to understand that she is working for a better world.

But also West is supporting occupation. Have you wondered how many Malala's Palestinians have under the israeli occupation/

October 11, 2013 at 4:17 pm |

zach

AND SO IS YOUR HATE

October 11, 2013 at 4:23 pm |

Islam is dying.

1.5 million happy Palestinians live in Israel. They have more freedoms and rights than Arabs living in ANY other Middle East nation. They do not want a Palestinian State live in.

October 12, 2013 at 8:41 pm |

Khan

and what exactly are you doing right now? spewing hate !

October 13, 2013 at 8:10 am |

Khan

we must bring trollers like you to day light aswell...

October 13, 2013 at 8:11 am |

Mr Janan

you are an Illiterate, rude and disrespectful person, I m sure people like u making this world a bad place! I have seen better Christians and Jews than you....

October 13, 2013 at 10:37 am |

Jahannam

I don't follow any religion. I have a brain.

October 13, 2013 at 5:17 pm |

Aamir

Jez Islam is not a disease. The people who have hijacked Islam and use it to peruse their own ideology are the disease. If a group of Christians or Jews do wrong, you cannot blame Christianity or Judaism. There are millions of Muslim people who are against extremism. I hope God gives you wisdom to think positive. Thank you

October 13, 2013 at 7:15 pm |

Sajid Rafique

Hey Jez. Talk about the 'peaceful ' christians who killed 62 millions of ea other in just ww2 . Muslims still need to break that record .

quite exact ,
Many thanks for supporting and focusing on Malala , but be sure not to forget those you killed at Iraq , Afghanistan
please ask them how many Malalas boys and girls were killed or lost their beloved fathers or mothers or parts of their bodies under your smart weapons attacks

UGH! We have had enough of this MALALA PROPAGANDA STUFF. Scores of Malalas have been kidnapped, raped, killed, etc., in the good old USA but the news about them does not continue to be headlines this long. WHY IS THIS SO?

You are so god damn blind you can't see pass your nose if you try. This is not about Malala its about the cause she is fighting for. Open your eyes. We are so use to freedom to do what we want to do in this part of the world that we take it for granted. Read the article and understand her cause before you make stupid comments.

Awabnavi - We're well aware of the kidnapping, rape and other crimes committed against young girls in certain areas. And we're well aware of who's doing it. And we're also aware that there are those who attempt to defend such crimes or make excuses for them by, for example, saying that other young girls suffer the same. Did you somehow imagine this makes the crime against this young woman somehow less contemptible? .

I am very proud of Malala and would like to wish her success. These Taliban are plain evil and are doing things that are not from Islam. I hope people will wise up and raise up against the Taliban and terminate them once and for all. That can only be successful if Malala's cause educate the communities that the Taliban have control of, where those people stand against the Taliban and say enough is enough. Since the Taliban are not representing the true teaching of Islam and killing innocent people, that is against Islam.

thank u very much Mustafa.infact u're a pride to every muslims and generation for ur foresight. i am not a muslim bt i strongly believe that Malala have brought hope,freedom and justice to d needy.she is d most precious jewel of d generation.i pray that Allah continuous to guide and protect her against d alarming threats of d taliban in Jesus name,amen!.

I think it may take a couple of years for this to happen. The cause is what needs to be supported. It would be very brave of the people to try and overturn the Taliban. It is scary attacking people with weapons. If there is a revolt or overturn, many lives will be lost. I like how Malala knows her life is about more than just her body. “They only can shoot a body,” she said, “but they cannot shoot my dreams.”

We would not have to be involved in any affairs in the middle east if you guys could just be more civilized and stop fighting amongst yourselves. Also, the radical muslims need to stop acting out against others that do not believe in Allah or the profit Mohamad in the sense that he was anything other than a normal human with the intent to control others. No different than the Catholic religion during the dark ages. I find it so amazing that any religion even thinks that murder is ok for any reason. The people of this world need to grow up past the harm of others for their own selfish desires.

There are 180 million Pakistani Muslims, who do not have even an iota of willingness to give a safe place to Malala to live in Pakistan. Malala has to live in exile in the UK - away from these Pakistani Muslims.

She was sent for advance medical treatment, got famous for her bravery and now the taliban will want kill her much more. Pakistan will do all to protect her. Her stay in the West is helping the cause for all, humanity and Pakistan.

There are 180 million Pakistani Muslims, who do not have even an iota of willingness or desire to give a safe place to Malala to live in Pakistan. Malala has to live in exile in the UK – away from these Pakistani Muslims.

She's not the bravest girl in the World. We are making her one by giving her all that fame. There are others, hundreds of other girls who killed by US Drones. Are they not brave? Or the US doesn't want to see them Brave because US is the one who's killing them and not Taliban!!!!! IRONIC.

Malala may be the bravest, but the Pakistani Muslims are the biggest cowards. Malala has to live in the UK. Pakistanis have no desire to give her a safe place to live in her own country. Malala will be shot again by Pakistanis if she goes back to Pakistan.

I despise the use of Drones but I was not aware that getting killed by one qualifies as bravery. This girl has gone up against people who threatened her then shot her when she was 15, and have promised to do so again. And she's fighting the revolting, violent culture of the Taliban. If that doesn't qualify her as one of the bravest girls in the world, I don't know what does.

“Terrorism afraid education, the best medicine to kill that disease is get education, we have support the girls and kids to get it well, and we have to save them from that virus”.
I am a Muslim, who learned concern Islam about 12 years continuously. My knowledge which I got in these 12 years and my limited experience which I spent with my knowledge, it does not accommodate with deeds of Thalibans or other terrorists. As far as I know about Islam, I didn’t see any where in holly Quran or in holly books which written by scholars as allowing to kill an innocent or allowing to stop the education.
The Prophet Muhammed said that, “if anyone kill an innocent person, he is a killer like killed a society”. Then what is the right for Thaliban to say that, they are for their religion? The Islam’s order completely against their deeds and their deeds against Islam too, they are not representatives of Islam, their religion is in the names only.
About education Islam’s view, we can see in Prophets’ words that, “you must earn education even if you go to CHINA”. He said this word in 14th century, at that time get education by went to CHINA more difficult, he mean, even though face lot difficulties, you have to get education. Then how Thaliban stop the right of people to get education and saying we are Islamist? They are completely against Islam and Islam against them too; they are not representatives of Muslims.
“If your neighbor is under poverty and you are eating well without any think about his situation, then you are not included in my community” we can see the message of peace in these words.
“One, who saved others from his tongue and from his arms, he is the real Muslim”. As per this teaching, Muslim has to have a protector not a killer; he must a liberator not an evil doer.
The Human have right to live, to get education, to equality and any one don’t have right to stop them, because it’s their birth rights.
Thaliban or other terrorists are very far from Islam or other religions; their religious is devilish and in the names only. They are not representatives of Islam or Muslims or other any religions.
Terrorism afraid education, the best medicine to kill that disease is get education, we have support the girls and kids to get it well, we have to save them from that virus.

It is good to know that Malala has adopted the Western values and she freely speaks about the rights of an individual. Her courage to discard the Islamic values is admirable. She speaks about a girl's right to education, a girls's right to go out on her own without a male escort, etc. - these individual rights are completely against Islamic values.

Oh, stop with the arrogance. Speaking freely has nothing to do with Western values. Ability to speak out has been part of the human instinct since the dawn of humankind. For centuries, European Christians condemned, silenced, and executed those who used scientific rationale to explain the universe.

Islam is not the problem, terrorism and extremists are. Based on your logic, Christians are hateful, violent racists.......because it is the foundational religion of the KKK. Ignorance like yours makes me sad.

There are still Muslims in the the world today who practice enslavement of others and are just as racist and prejudiced as the KKK. People from all religions practice genocide and are extremely intolerant to others because they are afraid of change, and believe that it will interfere with their personal beliefs. These are facts.

Malala would have been nobody except for the push she got from Pakistani propaganda machine. How many girls like her are in Muslim world and who probably show more courage than her every day of their lives. Enough of this Pakistani propaganda.

There have been many Malalas in the past and there will be many more in future. This Malala was at the right place at the right time. Bless her and wish her the best. I wish everyone will do more and give similar publicity to the others who have endured something similar or worse.

BTW, how about saying/doing something about the "child brides" – story reported today in the opinion column on CNN.

I am from INDIA, mostly we don't like Pakisthan govt or military, because they never stand on their words. But I wish we had good developed neibhour with friendly relations. Hope people like you can change your country and bring back into senses.Best of luck.

Islam is not a hindrance in the way to peace. Infact it focuses on peace. But now a days so called peace lovers are exploiting it. you guys do not even realise that how many people have been killed in world wars, which were initiated by Christians, not by Muslims, and how many people have been killed so far in your wars which christians started to obtain PEACE. still you think that Islam is a hindrance in the way of peace, then you are living in the world of fools and goofs, live there happily mate. thats your fate!!!!

Malala is a brave girl. Terrorists have no relegion as no relgion teaches to hate another religion. No religion teaches inequality againt women. Hats off for Malala for the kind of bravery she has shown. She is an inspiration to every human being in the world.
God Bless her with long life.

She was brave to go to school when others were scared to get out of the house. But she was shot and taken to Great Britain and now she lives there under 24 hrs protection and it is insane to make her a kind of symbol. She just lives there as any other immigrant to the UK but her father was granted a good job where others have to survive on the streets. It is easy to be brave now when she is thousands miles away from Pakistan being pampered and goes to the best school. So many others are shot daily and not being so lucky to be paid attention to. They just go to school, been shot, try to survive, try to do anythjng good with their lives back there in Pakistan. Malala is not so eager to go back as I understand.

“They only can shoot a body,” she said, “but they cannot shoot my dreams.”

Her courage and wisdom are remarkable in a person of any age; in a person of her youth, they are breathtaking. I pray that she lives a long, happy and healthy life - long enough to see her granddaughters going to school every day in Pakistan and not understanding what all the fuss was about.

Thank God Malala is alive today. She is doing well preaching the message of education for all girls. However they should ensure that she is not denied of her childhood as a result of the fame and celebrity status she is gaining. They should also ensure that she is well protected from all possible sources of attacks. I think she is too young and delicate to be put at the frontline of battle.

Please. People are getting shot by the Taliban and are going to continue getting shot until you get real security in that country. Every thing else is secondary. Educating girls is wonderful but it's not going to stop what's happening in either Pakistan or Afghanistan.

In the 1970s Afghanistan had one of the most educated populations in the world. Women regularly wore high heels and skirts. They were highly educated. And the Russians still rolled in. And after they were defeated the Taliban took over.

Educating girls is crucial but it is not the biggest concern. Security is. Otherwise you're going to have a bunch of highly educated dead people.

It's also ironic that the same people who have spent 10 years bemoaning the U.S. war in Afghanistan and drone campaign against the very people who shot Malala in the head, now want to agree with her and hold her up as a hero.

How exactly do you think she GOT educated? How exactly do you think more girls are going to get educated? What exactly do you think is going to happen when the U.S. leaves Afghanistan and by extension winds down the pressure on Pakistan?

When we're done acting like Malala has a divine right to the Nobel Peace Prize, can we please spend some time thanking and talking about the almost 4,000 Americans, male and female, many of whom are hardly any older than her who have fought, bled and died to try and do exactly what she wants while she gets to make the t.v. cable news circuit?

I am Indian. I wish the Pakis have the good sense to bring the Malalas of their country to the forefront. But given what Pakistan and fanatic Islam is there is not much hope of that happening. I have Muslim friends and I have seen how their education has helped their outlook. Hope more Pakis follow her.

Yes, I also hope more curry-munchers will follow her lead. Just as you use the word Paki instead of the correct descriptor for a person originating from Pakistan (i.e. a Pakistani) let me do the same.
As I just wrote, yes indeed, may more curry-munchers also find some sense in the way they write about or think about their fellow desi.

I think it is a little unfair to this girl, and other children out there in the world saying she is the bravest kid in the world. Most children aren't involuntarily facing bad guys shooting them in the face, or equally as daunting challenges to really elevate them to such a degree. I never really agreed with the idea of raising people to a higher status like the media likes to do anyways.

She is such a role model. Thank God the US stepped in and saved her while my brother that has an alcohol and cocaine addiction has been sober for 24 months with NO HELP from the US at all!! He paid for his own therapy. He is a true hero! Shes so great! F her AND her American hating country!

Malala is nothing more than the latest in a long line of depressing little girl propaganda puppets created and used by a vicious global imperialist oligarchy to further their neoliberal agenda of conquest, as you all can see most of the time she's reading scripts when she's on TV and maybe that's why they did not give her Nobel Peace Prize award. :)

I'm an Indian, we basically hate Pakistan.. but I prayed, My family prayed, My country prayed for my Pakistani sister Malala. I won't support Pakistan at any cost, but I and We support Malala, just for her cause, fight for the girls/ children s.

We Hindus pray to Brahman, the sole creator, The One, the only God, and Krishna the avatar of The Brahman reincarnation of Brahman in human form).
We prayed to Krishna that Malala will not only survive but have a very long life to fight against injustice.

October 12, 2013 at 1:40 pm |

Jane Marsh

Please explain to me...how can one person hate an entire nation of people? I clearly understand how one person can hate another, but I have never understood how one can hate an entire ethnic group. It defies all logic, perpetuates war, your hate of people fuels terrorism.

In Islam is pathetic that women who wish to be educated are killed, women who wish to drive a car are harassed, punished and even killed, women who have a different religion are humiliated, discriminated. I wonder where are millions of brainless Muslims denouncing these atrocities, it seems they all are accomplices of their evil prophet Mohammed and the "Satanic Verses" of the Qu'ran. The most pragmatic solution to these crimes and atrocities is A MASSIVE CONVERSION OF MUSLIMS TO CHRISTIANITY.

Yet another Asian immigrant in Europe...Looks like Europe is heading the same way as we are.. Before long you will have to book an appointment to be able to see an American in an American town. All kinds of Hispanics, Chinese and other folks of indefinite genetic origin the color of rotten mustard...

First, the Taliban leader has proven himself to be a liar. For he said the he was "sorry" over what happened. Maybe he was only sorry that the girl wasn't killed ? Second, the Taliban have proven themselves to be heartless vicious thugs and cowards for going after that young helpless young girl. Third ,the Taliban have exposes that they must be very much afraid of the education of girls and women. For the are scared that if a female becomes educated then she might start to look into different worldviews and then she might start to think for herself. This the Taliban with all their misogyny would detest. To explain this in another way, Thomas Jefferson had it right when he stated "Enlighten the people generally, and tyranny and oppression of body and mind will vanish like evil spirits at the dawn of day."

Another U.S. zombie child managed by PR Company Edelman. Reminder of first gulf war era Kuwaiti ambassador daughter Nayirah and her 'incubator babies' case, managed by Hill & Knowlton, then the world's largest PR firm.

Probably none of you knew that this little innocent creature called Malala Yousafzai is the daughter of a pro-Western political activist and journalist who wrote all her stuff about the Taliban that got published by BBC. She had no idea what her dad was getting her into, he painted a target on her back so he could become famous.

Ziauddin Yousafzai is the father of Malala Yousafzai, a young woman who protested against the Taliban for the education rights of children, especially for Pakistani girls. He is currently the United Nations Special Envoy on Global Education and also the educational attache of Pakistan in its consulate in Birmingham, UK.

He is also a school owner and an educational activist himself, running a chain of schools known as the Khushal Public School, named after a famous Pashtun poet, Khushal Khan Khattak.

I am from India and a Hindu. We consider Malala as our daughter too. We have prayed during her coma that she would survive. It is very important for the world that she would have a long life and one day she will be the Prime Minister of Pakistan.
That will I hope solve all remaining prolem that exist between India and Pakistan and there will be lasting peace.
Long live Malala; we love you as our daughter.

Jahannam, I read a couple of your comments. I honestly don't think you should write anywhere. You are a bigot and an illiterate. Your earlier comment about how dumb Muslims are makes me want to vomit. Your comments indicated that your are smarter than 1.5 Billion Muslims in the world. I will let you think about that one that if your brain can comprehend 'anything.'

Her second thought was to worry about the medical bills. Luckily for her, she awoke in a country where medical costs don't matter.. And to think there's still people out there who think this is backward step.

“The thing is, they can kill me. They can only kill Malala. But it does not mean that they can kill my cause, as well; my cause of education, my cause of peace, and my cause of human rights. My cause of equality will still be surviving. They cannot kill my cause.”

“They only can shoot a body,” she said, “but they cannot shoot my dreams.”

Good and Miraculous people has been between us human beings in the past. people like Gandh, Martin Luther King Jr.etc. these people I mentioned have been very effective in helping the weak and oppressed to get basic human rights. Here today Malala in her quest to give the weak and oppressed human kind (female) a hope and chance to dream to have a better life, is not a sin on her part.We should not count whos spending what. but we need to see what is the aim. if any western country is spending on Malala's cause i believe is 100 times better spent money than spending in WARS. As Malala said the WARS will be no more if we send children to schools. Where our children will learn to be tolerant and learn to treat everyone equal. Not hate, Kill and justify in the name of personal belief. Everyone in this world has right to stand up against the evil. Im sure many of us are in a better position than Malala was when she stood up against the evils around her. You can stand up for a good cause too. Thank You for understanding.

Malala: A young being deprived of education by her nation of Pakistan which is an Islamic state?

The first sign of an educated individual in any third world/developing nation is the ability to speak the prime internationally used language that is English, and judging from her interviews where her English is actually eloquent, I think there are far more young girls out there that are violently deprived of education then Malala who is nothing more then a political tool for the West.

If she was really brave she'd take off that head scarf. It is a sign of subservience to the dominance of men. It has nothing to do with respect for God. It is the rule of Muslim men.
People need to stop wearing costumes and start acting like they care about others.
I don't need to wear a costume or head scarf to tell the world that killing and bombing is unacceptable.
Thousands of kids her age are wounded or killed by bullets, rape, war trauma, chemical weapons.
#takeoffthescarf

Head scarf is not a sign of subservience to men or any other creature! Its a sign of our religious obligation. Again, we've freedom to dress as long we are living. To 'scarf' or not to 'scarf', it has absolutely nothing to do with the fact, that 'men' say so. Its how our God has ordained for us, so yes part of our beliefs. It is observed in our faiths too, so please do away with this bigotric statement. And if we're ever made to feel subordinate, that is where your point comes in : radical men's pressures and constraints, which again is not encouraged in any religion, but rather how culture and traditions take their turn to the extreme point, without due regards to women folks. Hope this clears. Peace out.

Also, thinking that taking scarf increases the incidence of negativities is extreme nonsense. Many women feel emancipated through the same dress, which reduces the status of others. It has to do with age-old redundant traditions and narrow mindedness, plus obscure views on what and how a certain religion ordains a follower!

Malala has bravely spoken up for her schoolmates, her country, and now she speaks for the entire peace movement in America to end droning atrocities committed by the Obama regime. That such a powerful and eloquent young girl has done so much already is the truest testament to courage I have ever witnessed.

I am awestruck and my hope in the world is renewed.

I say let the youth run this world as it should be. Maybe we ought to lower the age of public service to 16 and let the children run congress. Our government would not be shut down and our schools would be transformed in productive ways so that the world could honor life rather than callously be resigned to death and destruction.

I have had just about enough of this malala nonsense.. Talk about unnecessary and forced publicity.. All she had to do was get shot in the terror capital of the world (big surprise there) and next thing we know that she is getting nominated for nobel.. Is there no end to this absurdity??

True, shes a hero but there are many facts that are being not brought forward. She lived in an area that is near Afghanistan and part of the war spill over effect from neighboring country and talibans the barbarians. 90 % of area in Pakistan has absolutely no problem of girl education discrimination. Girls are even ahead of boys in fields like medicine , teaching and equal in IT etc.

Malala's father proudly says that he almost became a terrorist, her mother is a devout muslim and the girl herself wants to be the prime minister of pakistan. Sounds like the right ingredients of another Benazir Bhutto – anti Indian paki. And to think that she almost got a noble prize is extremely extremely disgusting. Too much hype for another jihadi in the making. All they want is education to hoodwink western world about the religion of peace to get their dollars and then stab.

It is a brave girl, but what about the even braver girls without protection back home in Pakistan and Afghanistan and still have to live in fear every day of the week. Is Carter still sleeping well at night knowing that he funded the Taliban in order to kill as much Russian soldiers as possible and with them the right of girls to get an education? Under Russian occupation there were never more girls in school in Afghanistan. After years of war, there are now even problems in Pakistan as we can see. Another example of American foreign policy.

Malala is an important role model for all women. Ending persecution for women by a higher power is evident in all societies. Whether it is the Taliban foribidding you to go to school or bullying and abuse in the modern day society; it is all the same thing. Women can relate to Malala's suffeetring. We all have to stop the abuse of women, hate and bullying of women is a horrible problem. Malala should have got the nobel peace prize her brain injury can never be fully healed. We must recognize her as a role model for all women that have to suffer.

Hmmm...I need nobel too..Some vandals broke into my car which was parked (unlocked ) in the notorious area of the city, and I bravely recovered by fixing it at WalMart.
If not nobel, I should be atleast made Prez :)

If they asked her in the interview what she thinks about gay "marriage" you would see the media turn on her in a flash. Here Obama demonizes anyone who disagrees with him about that issue, in fact severs some relations with Russia because of their stance, and yet he is willing to finance terrorists in Syria who would declare Sharia Law and truly persecute gays.

Poor pitiful creature....not only was she unfortunate enough to get shot and brain-damaged, but she is also being used by a foreign propaganda machine as a mindless tool. I wonder who s writing the scripts she is given to read..? I do not think she s smart enough in her present condition to memorize them. In all, it s a sad, tragic story.

Wesemann! you have posted the most wise comments. Being a Pakistani, my sympathies are with Malala but the Western world should also consider the shamefull situation of human rights in Africa, South Asia and Middle East especially in Gaza.

America applauds her "Right to an education" It's when she takes a stand for a "Womens' right to chose" that you'll see the "American Taliban"....Conservative/Republicans and the whole Right-Wing of this country tell her she's a SLLUTTT

What happened to this child is terrible and unthinkable that the 'religion of peace' (or so said George W. Bush) would try to murder her. On the other hand, it happened when she was 15, and now she is 16, and I am shaking my head that we are all looking to her for "answers" and what words of wisdom she might have. She's a kid, OK? If someone wants to do her a true favor, then evaluate where she is educationally and set her up in a fine private school where she can be safe, and where she can get an excellent education. But puh-leeze, let's not look to her for any kind of advice. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't she try to advise President Obama what he should or should not do with drones? That was definitely NOT appropriate, and she should have been advised more carefully about proper protocol.

Everyone who thinks Malala is going to fail are soulless and have no hope.
Sure, there may be others suffering, but that is not the point. The difference here is that Malala dared to speak out. She spoke out, loud and clear, to help her country and education. LONG LIVE MALALA!!!

I am watching Malala right now. She is one classy girl. Brave and good looking. Articulate. But so very young. The Taliban made one serious error in attacking her. Should they go after her again it will go even worse for them. They cannot win.

She's a global advocate for education. No she is an American propaganda tool, and that is why she didn't win the Nobel prize regardless of American lobbying. She is not well liked in her own village where they say they know the value of education without her lecturing them from abroad.

Rally a brave Little girl. Her courage will always be an example for all the world, no matter of some fools that dont reallize that compassion and goodness is a matter worldwide, not just of our littles circles of life.

Great article. Malala is inspiring and will achieve great things in her life.

Seems CNN on the other hand would prefer to suppress freedom of speech through this new SoundOff format for posting. The other format where posters can sign in through social media sites and hold conversations is infinitely more user friendly. Shame on CNN.

This young woman is a role model. Not just to girls, but to all of us, children, adults, boys, girls, men, women. How many of us have the courage to do what she did? How many of us just swim with the current instead of setting our sights on a destination and blazing a trail?

I applaud the medical facilities and excellence available in the Pakistani remotes village that a woman shot in the head from a close range recovers 110 %. BS. This story is fishy and made up by the West for the West. Pure BS.

If I understand correctly that USA stopped support the Talibans? The top US advisor Zbig Brzezinski said in 1979 to Taliban in Afganistan: that land is yours and God is on your said. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnV_pNe_BB0.Hillary Clinton admitted :We create Alquaida http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dqn0bm4E9yw

I think, we should let her live her peaceful life, without much of threat to her life. The more her exposure, the more threat to her life from her enemies. Let us allow this girl to lead her good and enjoyable life.

you guys are hating on what exactly? malala was shot in the head and some idiots are calling her a fake. genius!!! and as for islam, she is a muslim and still wears her scarf outside pakistan because she WANTS to. not everyone who wears a scarf is forced to, but obviously we will always have those people who stick their faces to the television and believe every stereotypical things that come up about islam. she is a muslim and does not like talibans. stop thinking that every muslim is either a terrorist or oppressed without doing your research. I am a muslim and love my religion but do not like talibans and am not oppressed. Some simple minded people hate on an entire religion because of a few extremists. Excuse me but do you have any idea the amount of muslims killed in the hand of christians rather than the other ways around?! So dont go around calling muslims terrorists when your religion is the one terrorizing! (and if you're going to say, they deserved it then thank you for proving my point)

Look, I appreciate this girl taking a bullet to the head so women can get an education in those whacked middle-eastern nations....

That said she is now riding this wave too far, and all the idiots "I am Malala!" need to quiet themselves. Not a single one of you white americans are her, you weren't shot in the head, go find another cause like nukes or 'meat is murder' or whatever....

I love this girl. The more I listen to her speak, the more I am impressed. If half of US teens thought and acted like her, this country would really on top of the world. Most teens in US dream and hope for TV stardom fame and fortune, and most act on mischief.
Malala has been an inspiration because she is brave but also because she is honest and outspoken. She's charismatic and tough. She has the will to do what she dreams.
God bless Malala.

I have great respect for this young woman who wants to change the world in a positive way. But I have one burning question: why does she still wear the covering headdress? No woman should have to cover herself up unless, according to Islam, all men do too.

It is pathetic that in Islam a young girl becomes a hero just because she wants to be educated. Another Islamic aberration is Saudi Arabia women who want to drive a car. Another Islamic stu^pidity is decapitating anyone who just wants to exercise his/her own religious belief. Islam is a satanic cult, unless there is A MASSIVE CONVERSION OF MUSLIMS TO CHRISTIANITY, global Islamic violence and madness will never end.

Calls the President of the U.S. on his crap in his own house, but does it in a manner that is anything but rude. That is not just courage, that is smart courage. Using the world stage to bring evil of all sorts to our attention is powerful. Hope she can maintain her integrity and courage through the whirlwind of media exposure and personal ambition.

Malala represents all girls who are being denied human rights. Instead of refering to this child as a "western tool", appreciate that she is an icon- and she uses her acknowledgement and publicity as a tool for positive change. Her causes, beliefs and manner of thinking should be admired and embraced- instead of critizing issues such as her publicity and choice of attire. Her achievements thus far are incredible- she is truely a hero in my eyes.

Yes, this young lady is a hero! But the thing that amazes me is that her family, her friends her entire country are not finding those that did this to her and the other young girls and shooting them in the streets like the dogs that they are!

In my opinion it not an individual who shot Malala, it is a ideology and many people behind it, my country Pakistan has been continuously suffering from such incidents that happened with Malala. She is not the only girl who suffered from those who shot her. There were many people who were not lucky enough to survive as Malala. Everybody knows about the Church blast in Peshawar city few weeks back. Not much is in the people’s hands and those having the authority seem helpless to tackle the situstion…..(Islamabad)

Dear Christiane, it was a wonderful show abt Malala. You did it with an unusual grace and an engaging smile. There was no volley of questions, but a kind of maternal affection. Malala is the world's bravest girl today, as u said. Let her accomplish her dreams.

Malala a drama, thousands of innocent girls rapped/murdered and war victim and more , but why west is taking mlala on highest up, hat
she once told biggest lie that women cant go out for shopping/job etc in Pakistan . a biggest lie of history by malala. how a girl from Pakistan's rural area can speak such English, its not possible .

Education is the most potent tool everyone can have to work out a successful life. She has taken a bold step in her life, girls must be allowed to go to school, as the saying goes if you educate a woman you have educated a whole nation. We need them in the system, so they have to be given the right to be educated. Pls comrades, this has nothing to do with religion.

To the American people . If you want to do justice to someone, have Dr.Afia released from an unjust prison sentence . Malala is just an ordinary Pakistani girl and I know it . The western media wants to make a celebrity out of her.

You are all brainwashed and hypnotised by Satan. Open your eyes, cry out to Jesus Christ and he will come to you. The whole universe is created by God.

Malala is just a satanist government puppet, and they show her to you every single day so you finally will love her and defend her. Do you really believe a normal 15 year old can advise a president of United States and speak globally about the World Bank so people can listen to her? No. She is possesed, and they know it.

Now she is complaining about not getting the Nobel Prize. This girl has not much impact either in Pakistan or elsewhere. She should just enjoy freeloading off the Pakistan and UK government rather than going on television to make herself into some joan-of-arch. Hundreds of thousand of children in the middle east and developing countries need basic food and clothing just to survive. Spending vast sums on one person is criminal. If she was genuine, she would go back home and to school there with her compatriots.

I really appreciate your efforts as you continue not to give up.
As you have initiate good ideal and transformation to people's life God of heaven and earth will continue to be with you and rescue you in all your ways. 2348064212705

Malala,what a brave girl you are! I pray that GOd protect you always so you may live to realize your dream. I can't imagine the difficulties you endured so your voice may be heard. Go brave girl! You are an inspiration to the unheard voices of other girls with the same aspirations as you. You are chosen to be their voice. I am a girl no more but your story moved me. God bless you girl. Regards to your dad and your family.

This article is about a 15 year old girl named Malala Yousafzai from Pakistan. She survived a bullet to the side of her face. After she got out of her coma, she has been working hard with her education so that she can earn the Nobel Peace Prize and fight for her rights as well as other girl's rights. I think this story is very inspirational because it shows how you can still succeed in life even when the worst has happened to you.

SHAME ON YOU TALIBAN!!! Like it says you should "BAN" Tali "BAN" !!! >:-( AND AS FOR YOU MALALA... congratuations! You should be a god/goddess! :-) (Taliban afraid of education... Hee, hee, hee!) You are a HERO!!! Your mother and father is very, very proud of you! And you should win all of the awards in the world for being this brave... and I'm also very sorry of what happen to your friends too. You will always be my role model... LONG LIVE MALALA!!! Or shall I say: "I AM MALALA!" God bless you and to the people who follow their dreams! I (We) salute you! :-)

Malala must be a wonderful Christian... 2000 years ago Jesus said, in Matthew 10;28, "Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell." She is a wonderful testament to our Savior. Jesus was indeed the most profound thinker in history... He was, He is, He is to come. Amen

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